keep your stupid fly mask on!!

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indiat

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As title really. At the end of my tether with daugther's pony who will NOT keep her fly mask on for anything longer than an hour. Now she has pink eye and I am looking at a preventible vet bill. I am thinking of cutting up a fly mask and sewing mesh onto a snuggy hood to keep it on the little madam. Has anyone got any tips?
 
Mine yanks his mask off too. We put the top strap of the headcollar through the hole in the mask for his forelock and do the headcollar up tight. That keeps it on securely.
 
Broken_Arrow said:
Mine yanks his mask off too. We put the top strap of the headcollar through the hole in the mask for his forelock and do the headcollar up tight. That keeps it on securely.
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Brilliant! Why on earth didn't I think of that?

Horsecarzy, ta too. I turned her out tonight with a head collar on - I normally hate doing it, I'm paranoid she will get caught in it (what I don't know there's bugger all in the field - like I said, paranoid), but the pink eye is the last straw. Why oh why are ponies so much more trouble than great big huge horses? :D
 
I read your title and laughed. I always think the exact same thing about my big brown horse. He gets weepy eyes and is obviously bothered by flys and yet yanks his hat straight off. Your idea is excellent though. I shall be employing it asap. My filly is quite happy to wear her hat. I wonder why some are and some aren't.
 
indiat said:
Brilliant! Why on earth didn't I think of that?

Horsecarzy, ta too. I turned her out tonight with a head collar on - I normally hate doing it, I'm paranoid she will get caught in it (what I don't know there's bugger all in the field - like I said, paranoid), but the pink eye is the last straw. Why oh why are ponies so much more trouble than great big huge horses? :D
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I also threatened him that if he still got it off with that on (plan A), plan B involved duct tape and there would be NO WAY that he was getting it off then!

Some horses are just accident prone and can wrap themselves up in ways that you wonder how the hell they managed it.
 
If you're worried about turning out in a headcollar, Libby's used to (presume they still do it) a field headcollar, which is basically the same as normal only they've got velcro bits that fasten, which will come undone easily if dobbin gets caught up.

You need to order a bigger size than you think you need though; mine normally takes a cob size in everything else, but their full size is just about big enough, so I'd be inclined to order a size up.
 
Personally I would never risk turning out in a normal headcollar, I have seen a horse get its head trapped in the water trough, far too risky however as above a trunout headcollar solves that problem, failing that a leather headcollar is safer as it tends to break with extreme force.

A pink eye is better than a broken neck.
 
Title made me laugh - we put a fly mask on our 16.2hh mare in her stable as she was really being bothered with the flies and being the big brave girl she is (:rolleyes:) she closed her eyes and wouldn't move!!!!!!! We plait Kellys forelock into her grazing muzzle would that work with a fly mask too??
 
I've almost given up on fly masks this year!

My old horse thinks it funny to pull the tassles off of my younguns flyfringe. Gone through about 15 so far :eek:
I kept blaming my youngster until I spotted the old man pulling them off :rolleyes:
 
My shettie gets his mask off all the time.... then I have to go and hunt for it. So thought it a good idea to wrap some bright orange vetrap round one of the lug holes so that next time it's lying a bush I can find it.

Big mistake..

Foxes like bright orange vetrap.....

Fly mask was missing in action for a month, then turned up one day near the bushes, rather chewed and smelling of fox wee!!! Ewwwww.....

After much scrubbing and needle and thread repairs, plus removal of all evidence of vetrap, mask was back on said pony again today..... only to be missing again by teatime!

Right, he can have the Burberry one I bought!! Will spot that in bushes easily!!
 
I have the answer for this one!

My Shetland x companion mare gets gammy eyes and never keeps her mask on little monster.

This weekend I put her mask on, it is one with a hole for the forelock, and I plaited a piece of mane and a piece of forelock together over the headpiece of the mask. It stayed on perfectly for 3 days until it rained and I took it off. Before it would have been off within hours! :)
 
I'm having exactly the same thing but with fly fringes (the ones without a headcollar attached) and to top it off both have gone missing on 2 horses within 24hrs of each other. No where to be found in the field, this has happened before and i've found it chewed up in the next field. Still not found it and it's been a week now. Both horses are bothered by the flies and now wearing masks but for how long is a mystery!!
 
Hate to say, my lad managed to get his mask off even attached to headcollar - but not completely. Ended up with half of it stuck in his mouth. No damage to him, but fly mask was well and truly dead, headcollar a bit mangled! :o This year we opted for a fly fringe, which worked most of the time (except when another horse pulled it off!)
 
indiat said:
Brilliant! Why on earth didn't I think of that?

Horsecarzy, ta too. I turned her out tonight with a head collar on - I normally hate doing it, I'm paranoid she will get caught in it (what I don't know there's bugger all in the field - like I said, paranoid), but the pink eye is the last straw. Why oh why are ponies so much more trouble than great big huge horses? :D
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Please put a leather headcollar on her - I am paranoid too but they do break! I won't bother typing out horror stories as we've all heard them but I know of a pony the worst happened to! Far worse than pink eye!
 
My old girl wont move if she has a flymask on. At all. Ever. She gets rooted to the spot and you can leave her all night and she wont move an inch. So the answer for her is one of the old fashioned fly fringes which I put on a breakable headcollar. It works really really well and she is a happy beany again
 
Flippin fly masks!:D Have spent a tidy fortune on them this year. Lycra, mesh, with ears, without, velcro straps, fly fringes, my donks think it is one big hoot to pull them off, play tug of war and stamp on them. I found the last one under a fresh pile of pooh. Went down one evening & found one had got out of his flyrug, left it in a pile with all the straps still done up!:confused: Bloomin Houdinis:D
 
wilsha said:
dont know if it would work but you can get flt masks with lycra around them a bit like a snuggy hood maybe that would stay on
http://www.robinsons-uk.com/products/search.asp?keyword=fly+mask#sku.59106
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I got one like this without ears after my horse kept loosing her velcro fastening mask. I think it's made by Roma and cost about £7 from Countrywide. It's fab, she's kept it on most of the summer. My friends bought two for her TB and pony after seeing how well it stays on, and the horses seem quite happy wearing them.

This one...

http://www.rideaway.co.uk/roma-lycra-fly-mask/filter/brands/roma/default.aspx
 
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